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Friday, September 28, 2012

The (Potentially Lethal) Guided By Voices Drinking Game

Rock and roll hero Guided By Voices (playing tomorrow night at Plush; the show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $25 in advance) has undergone numerous lineup changes throughout its nearly 30-year history. But at least one aspect of the Ohio outfit has remained constant in all that time: its members' insatiable desire for liver-destroying liquids. The personnel on stage at your typical GBV show has little trouble plowing through as many beers as they do songs.

And with a reputation for performing their short, punchy anthems in sets that can stretch well past the three-hour mark, you best believe that the men of GBV have that singularly Midwestern capacity for alcohol that frightens the rest of this nation almost as much as bath salt freak-outs or the idea of affordable health care.

So in honor of these hard drinkin' Middle Americans, we invite you to climb to similar summits of intoxication with our Guided By Voices drinking game. Feel free to play along at its show, but do your best not to "Do the Collapse" on the floor or you'll be playing "Isolation Drills" outside when the...oh fuck it let's just get to it:

Editor's note: An earlier incarnation of this game referenced songs written later in the GBV canon, before the reunion of the current, classic lineup, which don't appear on these set lists. We wouldn't want you missing a chance to get as plastered as possible, so replacements appear below.

Take a drink whenever:

-A "G-B-V" chant starts.
-Bob Pollard declares that the club is open.
-Bob goes all Roger Daltrey (Karate kicks, microphone whips, elongated yeahs).
-A band member fucks up.
-A band member (Bob excluded) keeps his eyes shut for more than 10 seconds.
-Bob starts dolling out gold stars.
-Tobin Sprout sings.
-The band plays a new song that you don't like.
-A new case of beer appears onstage.